


Pictures and Permanent Markers

by Janarkrs



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aquarium visit, Bokuaka - Freeform, M/M, Marine nerd!Akaashi, Oneshot, but i didn't describe it #sorrynotsorry, haikyuu!! - Freeform, happy ending ofc, kinda marine nerd i guess i mean he knows about sharks, like no angst, literally only mentions kuroo and kenma once, pining to some extend but it's mutual pining, somewhat fluffy i mean i tried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 06:18:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7211300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Janarkrs/pseuds/Janarkrs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akaashi knows he likes Bokuto. He's known it for a while.<br/>He blames it on a photograph, but it's getting harder and harder to use that excuse every time.</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>holy heck it's late and I wanted to write bokuaka getting together thank jESUS</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pictures and Permanent Markers

**Author's Note:**

> i was tempted to change the language of this to french because i hate myself

Akaashi wished Bokuto hadn’t taken that photograph. It hung regrettably on the wall atop Akaashi's bed, initially as a reminder of their friendship, but somehow its innocence managed to sway and make way for something much more powerful. 

Three months it had been hanging there until he realized the mistake he had made. The first thing he did of course was tear it down. The first thing he thought rather was to tear it down, but instead he found himself staring at it for what must definitely have been the thousandth time. Bokuto’s face was close to Akaashi's, his eyes shut so tightly that small creases were formed at the corners which made him look so mature. The side of his mouth that Akaashi could see was held in a distorted smile, the rest of his lips hidden by the cheek they were half puckered against. Whatever Akaashi's face looked like was irrelevant, because the fact that Bokuto had kissed his cheek definitely took the spotlight.

Bokuto had taken the photo when they went down to the beach together for the weekend, and although it was placed quite openly above Akaashi's bed, it simply blended in with the abundance of other photos that he had taken. As soon as Bokuto had kissed him, they laughed about it and got it printed out, one each, as a memory. Akaashi scoffed rather loudly at the thought of that. If Bokuto pressed his lips against Akaashi's cheek now, he knew he wouldn’t be laughing.

Now, however, was not the time to be thinking about that. Akaashi's eyes tore from the picture to the pile of clothes he had laid out. “This is the time to be getting dressed, to be doing what I came into my bedroom for.” he mumbled to himself, becoming conscious of the time frame that suddenly surrounded him. 9:46am was the last time the clock displayed, but now after finishing breakfast, a more realistic time would be 9:55am, meaning five minutes was the amount he had left until Bokuto arrived. If experience was anything to go by, this would be the fastest five minutes of Akaashi's life. 

And he was right. The moment his scarf was wrapped around his neck he felt himself descending the stairs to open the door for Bokuto. The sound of Bokuto's knuckles tapping the door in a familiar rhythm made him nervous.p>

As the door opened, Bokuto's eyes met Akaashi's, and his face broke out into a smile. 

“Hey Hey, Akaash! It feels like forever since we’ve seen each other!”

“Good morning Bokuto, and wasn’t it just yesterday that we had lunch?”

“Yeah, but that was with Kuroo and Kenma too! I mean since we’ve seen each other, just us two.”

Akaashi smiled back at him. It was true, they hadn’t spent a day together in a while, but Akaashi knew that he may have accidentally arranged it to be that way. Bokuto had asked many times to come over, and each time Akaashi managed to invite either Kenma or Kuroo to join then. The thought of being alone with Bokuto was too much for even Akaashi's subconscious.

“You’re right, actually.”

“You should say that more often, Akaash!”

“You should give me more reason to say it then.”

Akaashi walked past Bokuto towards the car with smugness in his features, as Bokuto tried to think of all the times he had been right. It took a whole five minutes of driving for him to think of two times +and Akaashi couldn’t help but laugh. 

“So, did you have anything you wanted to do today? Or can I plan the day! I’ve got so many idea of things we could, did you know the aquarium has just finished its renovation!? We could go there, but only if you want too.”

“It’s fine if you would like to plan the day Bokuto, the aquarium sounds quite nice actually. I saw that they built a secluded tank to accommodate for angel sharks.”

“Angel sharks! I never knew you were a shark Akaashi.”

“Ah, whilst that’s very kind of you, I wouldn’t want to be an angel shark. They’re unfortunately critically endangered”

“Really? That’s terrible.”

A thoughtful silence engulfed the car as Akaashi reached to grab his phone. Hopefully the Aquarium won't be busy today, he thought.

“If I was a shark, do you think I would be a great white shark.”

He looked over at Bokuto and Bokuto risked glancing from the road to look at Akaashi too.

“No, you’d be a dumb gulper shark.”

“Akaashi! Be serious!”

“Okay. You’d probably be a theresher shark,”

Bokuto looked at him again for a second longer this time, his eyes wide and expectant, and Akaashi knew from previous conversations what he wanted to say, 'Why Akaashi? Why do I remind you of a theresher shark?'

“Because they have extraordinarily long tails that can weigh up to 700 pounds, and that reminds me of your hair because it's strange.”

They both laughed at that but Akaashi wasn’t joking.

“What shark would I be, Bokuto?”

“A whale shark because you eat so much!”

 

At 10:24am, Bokuto and Akaashi arrived at the aquarium. Luckily, the aquarium was not busy at all, so finding parking was easy and they were both looking around them at the colorful array of fish in only five minutes time. When 11:40am came around, they both went and saw the new angel sharks along with almost everyone else that seemed to be inside the aquarium. Bokuto pressed his face against the glass to get a better look at one of the sharks that was trying to bury itself in the sand, and when he looked back at Akaashi with his usual huge smile on his face, Akaashi couldn’t help but feel a swell of affection for him. Followed closely by a swell of guilt. Another of the tanks they went to see had small stingrays in it, where people could come to touch the stingrays as they swum by. It was a bit skeptical at first until an aquarium worker told them they had had their stinging spines removed, which didn’t ease Akaashi nor Bokuto's concern for the animals at all. They both put their hands in the water to feel the stingrays, and when Akaashi's hand was in, Bokuto grabbed it to scare him. Unfortunately for him, it worked. When Bokuto let his hand go, Akaashi felt his stomach drop. It was getting on to 4:00pm, when they had finally explored the whole of the aquarium. 

“Okay okay! Where to next? It’s a bit early for dinner but we could still have something if you want too, Akaash?”

“I wouldn't mind that. You can decide on where we go, because this is your day to plan, remember?”

Bokuto's eyes got impossibly brighter, as if he just remembered it was Christmas.

“Oh, yeah! Alright it’s a surprise then, but don’t worry because I’ll make sure it’s a place you like.”

“I’m not worried in the slightest”

Akaashi smiled at him, and Bokuto grinned mischievously back at him. 

The car ride was relatively short, and Bokuto really wasn't lying when he said it would be a place that Akaashi liked.

"Tonkichi! I know you love this place Akaash, because we went here for your birthday last year."

He seemed so accomplished as he turned to look back at Akaashi, so much so that Akaashi almost felt like leaning forward and kissing him. Almost. But definitely not.

"Thank you for being so thoughtful, Bokuto. I appreciate it."

They both stepped out of the car and into the fancy atmosphere of the restaurant. It was then that Akaashi realized he hadn't brought his wallet.

"Bokuto, do you want to eat at my place instead?"p>

Bokuto turned back and started at him as if he didn't know him, his eyes squinted slightly and his brows furrowed together. His expression initially screamed 'Where is Akaashi and what have you done with him'. A worried expression quickly took place of that though.

"Are you okay? Do you feel sick?"

"No, thank you for your concern, but I've forgot my wallet."

In the middle of the entrance way where they had stopped, Bokuto burst out laughing as if someone had just said the most hilarious joke in history. Akaashi jumped back at the sound, it being the last thing he expected to hear, and a few people from the table closest to them glanced at him, but it was nothing more than the same surprise he felt.

"Akaashi, I'll pay you for you! Why would you ever be worried about something like that!"

Akaashi's face heated up. Bokuto was paying for him because he is his friend, and he inconveniently forgot his wallet. This is not a date.

"Thank you very much."

By the time they were seated and were waiting on their meals, the conversation was flowing easily. The last few weeks seemed to be filled with events they were retelling each other, and others they had completely forgotten about. When their food did arrive, it almost came as a shock.

"Hey hey, can I try that?"

"No"

Bokuto's arm and chopsticks extended across the table and grabbed a pork dumpling from Akaashi's plate so fast even Akaashi couldn't stop him.

"Are you serious?"

"Mmhm! It tathtes good, Akaathi!"

"Oh god, please eat with your mouth closed Bokuto"

Akaashi grabbed food from Bokuto's plate and Bokuto grabbed even more food from Akaashi's plate, until both plates were empty and taken away to be washed.

"Hey hey," Bokuto said as he started to rise from his seat.  
"I've just got to go to the toilet okay? I'll be back in a minute and if the man comes with the bill, then here you go!"

Bokuto chucked his wallet at Akaashi from across the table, and Akaashi nodded back at him in understanding. The likeliness that someone would come for the bill in the time that Bokuto was gone was so slim that Akaashi didn't worry at all, yet the second that Bokuto disappeared around the corner, a tapping on Akaashi's shoulder brought him back to reality.

"Good evening sir, I hope you enjoyed your meal!"

"Thanks, it was really good" "Good to hear! That'll be $47.99 please"

Akaashi ungracefully opened Bokuto's wallet and gave the young girl the 50 dollar note that was visible. She fished into her apron and pulled a 2 dollar coin out, before telling Akaashi to have a nice evening. A breath escaped from Akaashi's lips, one that he wasn't surprised he was holding, as he went to close Bokuto's wallet. But he stopped. There was a photo in Bokuto's wallet with a horribly draw permanent marker love heart surrounding the two faces in it, almost covering them both completely, but it was still recognizable. Had Akaashi not been staring at that exact picture everyday for the last three months however, he would have been clueless.

Surely this was a mistake, a dream even, but the very real feeling of the delicate picture between his thumb and finger was definitely not his imagination. The love heart drawn around his and Bokuto's face was terrible, but it was unmistakably Bokuto's. Akaashi felt his face heat up tremendously fast, and all of a sudden when the chair opposite his was pulled out again, he felt his head snap upwards and his eyes meet with a slightly worried Bokuto.

"Hey, are you sure you're not feeling the least bit sick? You look really hot."

Bokuto winked jokingly at Akaashi and then laughed, but all Akaashi could do was stare bewilderingly at Bokuto. He wanted to laugh too, he wanted to act like what just happened wasn't real, but he couldn't, the picture in his hand evidence that yes, it was very real.

"Akaashi? Are you.. okay?"

Bokuto's eyes glanced at the photo Akaashi was holding multiple time, before he actually registered exactly what Akaashi was holding. His eyes grew very wide as they slowly made their way back to Akaashi's and his face was a shade that rivaled that of a tomato.

"I can, uh, explain that." but it was evident that he in fact could not. His eyes met with Akaashi's, but never for close to a second as they darted around the room as if looking for a way to escape.

"Let's go to the car, yeah? I can, uh, explain there. Unless you, you don't want to."

"Uh, it's okay, that sounds fine." Akaashi didn't know who to thank, but his voice didn't waver at all.

The walk to the car was agonizing, and neither of the boys knew how they were going to survive in the car. Once they were seated and everything was silent, Bokuto decided to break it first.

"Akaashi! I maybe really like you and I know this is so weird because you're my best friend and that photo is even weirder because now I seem like a crazy stalker but I promise"  
Bokuto broke away from his sentence to breathe, before continuing on.  
"to throw it away I'll even burn it if you want but please still be my friend Akaashi I know I have Kuroo and Kenma but I don't know what I'd do without you because you've always been there for me and... I think I love you, Akaashi."

Bokuto's voice was so small as he said the last part, that Akaashi felt guilty for reacting the way he had in the restaurant.

"Bokuto, I like you too. I, really, like you too. I think, I love you, too" Whatever God he was going to pray to had lost all of Akaashi's respect now as he struggled to find the right words to use, but obviously that had been enough for Bokuto.

Akaashi was right when he thought that if Bokuto kissed him now he wouldn't laugh, instead, he would kiss back.

**Author's Note:**

> hahahaha if you liked this and you maybe want me to write in detail what happened at the aquarium tell me bc i think i can manage that!  
> thank you for actually reading this i think i've had only 2 banana's since 3:00pm and it's now like 12:00am woo!  
> omg i have a tumblr too it's janarkrs follow me please request me to write stuff please omg i think i would fall in love with you


End file.
